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BIOL*2060 - Ecology > MMidterm 1 - Review > Flashcards

MMidterm 1 - Review Flashcards

1
Q

Facts vs. Principals

A

Facts - Something known to be true.

Principals - Actionable things that cause something to happen
- Give more insight than facts
- Ex. Predators like lake trout link different parts of the lake by moving between them to forage.

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2
Q

Define Ecology in classic terms

A

The study of how organisms interacts with one another and their physical environment.
- How species interact
- What species eat
- How are the seeds distributed
- How harsh winds in the winter or disease affect the species

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3
Q

Define the modern take on Ecology

A

The study of the processes influencing the distribution and abundance of organisms.
- Where are species found and why
- Where are species not found and why
- How many of a species are found and why
- How and why does a number of individuals in a species change over time and why

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4
Q

Emergent Properties

A

A property that is not present in the levels component parts but emerge from these parts interactions and relationships.
- Arise from the interactions and relationships among the components at each level of biological organization

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5
Q

Succession

A

A community level change over long periods of time
- You could not understand succession by studying individual populations
- You must study the community

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6
Q

Holobiont

A

The assemblage of a host species living in or around it, which together form a discrete ecological unit through symbiosis
- Ex. Bear + microbiome = holobiont

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7
Q

Metapopulation

A

A collection of inter-related populations
- Not just population, not just community, but in-between

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8
Q

T or F: organisms and ecosystems are dynamic entities?

A

True
- Dynamic steady state
- Dynamic stability

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9
Q

Bathtub Model:
1. Inputs > Outputs = …
2. Outputs > Inputs = …
3. Inputs = Outputs = …

A
  1. Growth
  2. Decline
  3. Dynamic Equilibrium
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10
Q

How did the overfishing of cod cause an increase in seals?

A
  1. Increased fishing of cod caused an abundance of pelagic fish.
  2. Increased pelagic fish caused in increase of seals due to the abundant food source.
  3. Increased seals further depleted cod.
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11
Q

Ecology is a science - define science

A

Science is a process for understanding the world and can be thought as
- a collection of knowledge
- a process for the collection of knowledge

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12
Q

Modern ecology was born out of…

A

Natural history and taxonomy

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13
Q

Natural History

A

The scientific study of animals or plants, especially as concerned with observation rather than experiment, and presented in popular rather than academic form.

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14
Q

Taxonomy and traditional taxonomic characters:

A

The branch of science concerned with the classification of organisms
- Morphological characters
- Behavioural characters
- Ecological characters
- Geographic characters

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15
Q

Observation

A

The act of noting or perceiving a phenomenon or event using the senses or scientific instruments.
- Often formulated as patterns sometimes termed as phenomenon

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16
Q

Ecology focuses on developing mechanistic understanding - Define Mechanism

A

A system of casual interaction parts and processes that produce one or more effects or phenomena.
- Let us explain why
- Let us predict

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17
Q

How would you determine the distribution of a species. Use the common juniper as an example.

A
  • Why is it found where it is found
  • Why is not found where it is not found?
  • Looking at climate
  • Looking at soil type
  • Looking at other plants or insects in the area
  • human impact on the environment
  • movement of seeds
  • water distribution
  • permafrost/seasonal weather
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18
Q

The Niche

A

The range of environmental conditions and resource use that allows a species to persist and reproduce
- The range of abiotic and biotic conditions that an organism can tolerate.

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19
Q

Ectoparasites

A

Consume the blood of the host.

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20
Q

T or F: Climate change is driving the redistribution of species across the globe?

A

True

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21
Q

Where on earth is life not found?

A

In the most extreme environments where essential biological molecules cannot exist.
- Most extreme temps or pH

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22
Q

Extremophiles

A

Organisms that are able to live in extreme conditions

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23
Q

Trade-offs

A

The compromises organisms make in allocating limited resources to different aspect of their biology, behavior or physiology, influencing their fitness and adaptation to specific environment condition.
- Giving up one thing in return for another
- A balancing of factors all of which are not attainable at the same time.

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24
Q

Ecozone

A

Refers to a relatively large area of the Earth’s surface with distinct environmental conditions.
Dependant on:
- Topography
- Soil
- Geological factors
- Disturbance events
- Human influences

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25
Q

Varying Factors in marine ecosystems (6)

A
  • Temp
  • Salinity
  • Light
  • Depth/pressure
  • Substrate
  • Waves
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26
Q

Varying factors in freshwater ecosystems (6)

A
  • Temp
  • Light
  • Flow
  • Depth
  • Substrate
  • pH
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27
Q

Varying factors in different soil layers (5)

A
  • Temp
  • Moisture
  • pH
  • aeration/ oxygen
  • Particle types
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28
Q

Why do species have a niche?(3)

A
  1. Species are adapted to their environment
  2. Different environments have different conditions
  3. No organism can be adapted to all conditions due to trade-offs
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29
Q

How does homogenization effect environmental conditions? (3)

A
  • Dominance by a small number of species
  • disruption of trophic interactions and food webs
  • The loss of rare and endemic species
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30
Q

Fundamental Niche

A

All possible dimensions in which a species can survive in principal
- shaped by ecological tolerance
- No biotic constraints

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31
Q

Realized Niche

A

Where species actually live/ survive
- Biotic constraints
- Shaped by interactions and biological constraints that reduce the set of conditions under which an organism can survive.

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32
Q

What are 5 reasons a species could be absent from an area

A
  1. Hasn’t arrived yet
  2. is dispersal limited
  3. selected against that habitat
  4. is excluded by predators or competitors
  5. Can not tolerate the abiotic conditions
33
Q

Diffusion

A

The gradual spread or movement of a species or populations from one area to another over time.
- Natural expansion of a species
- Often driven by the dispersal of individuals from existing populations

34
Q

Dispersal

A

The movement of individuals away from their original location to establish new populations in different areas
- Immigration and emigration
- Enables individuals or propagules to colonize and establish populations in new distant habitats
- Contributes to the spatial expansion of species

35
Q

What are the 4 abilities to disperse?

A
  1. Active - Walking, flying, swimming
  2. Passive - Wind, water
  3. Animal mediated
  4. Human mediated
36
Q

Dispersal Limitation

A

The constraint imposed on the colonization or distribution of a species due to the inability of individuals or propagules to reach suitable habitats

37
Q

Habitat Selection

A

The process by which organisms, both animals and plants, choose and occupy specific habitats that sit their needs for survival growth, and reproduction.
- Occurs at different spatial scales
- Broad-scales choices of geographical regions
- Fine scale choices within a specific habitat types

38
Q

What are the 2 types of habitat selections?

A
  1. Proximate Factors
  2. Ultimate Factors
39
Q

Proximate Factors

A
  • Immediate and direct influences
  • Temp, humidity, food availability, presence of suitable nesting sites
  • Associated with physiological and behavioural adaption
40
Q

Ultimate Factors

A
  • Long term influences
  • Included factors like competition, predatation risk, and the need to find suitable mates
  • Often associated with evolutionary processes
41
Q

Ecological Tolerance

A

The ability of an organism to endure under certain environmental conditions

42
Q

Niche Overlap

A

Multiple species share similar ecological requirements
- Potentially leading to competition
- Often influencing the realized niches of one or both of those species
- In response often there is resource partitioning

43
Q

Resource Partitioning

A

The division of limited resources among co-existing species in a way that reduced competition.

44
Q

Range

A

The places where individuals of a particular species can be found
Synonymous with Distribution and Geographic Range

45
Q

Marginal Distribution

A

The geographical limits to the distribution of a species

46
Q

Vagrancy

A

A phenomenon in ecology whereby an individual appears well outside its normal range
- an individual out of its range

47
Q

Biogeographical Ranges

A

Regions that share species with the region but not other regions

48
Q

Habitat vs. Niche

A

Habitat is a physical area
vs.
Niche is a set of conditions

49
Q

Liebig’s Law of the Minimum

A

Rate of biological process is limited by that factor in least amount relative to the organisms requirements
- Growth is dictated not by total resources, but the scarcest resource
- when you add more of a limiting factor something else becomes limited

50
Q

Limiting Factor

A

Any environmental or ecological factor that restricts the growth, distribution, or abundance of organism within that ecosystem

51
Q

Shelford’s Law of Tolerance

A

The distribution of a species is often controlled by that environmental factor for which the organism has the narrowest range of tolerance.
- abiotic and biotic factors act simultaneously, but not every factor is limiting
- Some factors are more likely to be limiting
narrow range means more likely to be limiting
- Narrow range means more likely to be limited

52
Q

What are the 2 complicating factors to an organism’s niche/range

A
  • Tolerances are not fixed
  • Organisms can influence the abiotic conditions in their environment
53
Q

Acclimation

A

The reversible, relatively rapid physiological or behavioural adjustments made by an organism in response to changes in its environment
- change in optimum
- change in the range of tolerance

54
Q

Niche Construction

A

The process through which organisms, particularly through their activities and behaviours, actively modify and shape their environment.

55
Q

What are the 3 most important aspects of a species niche in determining its distribution

A
  1. limiting factors
  2. Environmental factor for which the organism has the narrowest range of tolerance
  3. Different factors often limited different parts of a species range
56
Q

Range Shift

A

Occur when the geographical distribution of a species changes its location
- in response to changing environmental conditions
- most used to describe a change in location w/out change in area

57
Q

Range Expansion

A

Refers to the process by which a species increases its geographical distribution usually bu moving into new areas where it was not previously found.
Response to:
- changing environmental conditions
- the removal of barriers

58
Q

Range contraction

A
  • Occurs when a species reduces its geographical distribution either by withdrawing from certain areas or through local extinction
59
Q

Redistribution

A

The process of shifting or relocating the distribution of organisms, resources, or ecological components within a given area or habitat

60
Q

What is the general format and common terms found in a Hypothesis

A

Format: Some pattern/phenomenon happens b/c of mechanism

  • present tense
  • general
  • because
61
Q

Describe a prediction

A

A statement of expected outcome of a test assuming the hypothesis is correct
- forecasting the outcome of an experiment or study
- based on hypothesis
- future tense
- will

62
Q

Endemisms

A

The phenomenon where a species is native to and exclusively found in a single particular geographic region.
- opposite of cosmopolitan

63
Q

5 Important characteristics of population distributions

A
  1. Geographic ranage
  2. Abundance
  3. Density
  4. Dispersion
  5. Dispersal
64
Q

Dispersion

A

The partial arrangement of distribution pattern of individuals within a population across a given area or habitat
- Patterns may be clumped, regular, or random.
- not the same as dispersal or diffusion

65
Q

What causes Clumped Dispersion

A
  • Response to uneven distribution of resources
  • Due to social behaviours, cooperative interactions, or mating
66
Q

Patch

A

A localized and distinct area within an ecosystem that has a concentration of essential resources

67
Q

Causes for uniform dispersion

A
  • Individuals are evenly spaced throughout the population
  • Associated with competition for limited resources
  • Associated with territorial behaviours and antagonistic interactions
  • Allelopathy
68
Q

Allelopathy

A

A phenomenon where individual organisms release chemicals into the environment that influence the growth, germination, or development of other nearby organisms
- Allelochemicals

69
Q

Causes for random dispersion

A
  • no strong attraction or repulsion between individuals
  • due to random dispersal methods
70
Q

Abundance

A

The total number of individuals of a species within a defined area

71
Q

Density

A

The number of individuals per unit area or volume

72
Q

What are 3 ways to measure population size

A
  1. counting every individual
  2. Area based counts (estimation)
  3. Remote sensing (estimation)
73
Q

Area Based Counts

A
  • Quadrats, transects, point counts
  • randomly selcts area
74
Q

Remote Sensing

A

Fly your drone over area take a picture have software identify things

75
Q

Mark-recapture (estimation)

A
  1. Capture a sample of individuals
  2. Apply a distinct identifier to each
  3. Release marked individuals
  4. Recapture another sample
  5. Recounting
  6. Record the number of marker and unmarked individuals
  7. Used mathematical formulas to estimate pop. size
76
Q

r-Selected Species Characteristics

A
  • high reproductive rates
  • Fast growth rates
  • Many offspring in a short period
  • low parental care
  • mature quickly
  • short lifespan
77
Q

What environments are r-selected species associated with?

A
  • unpredictable
  • abundant resources and low competition
  • distributed and new habitats
  • high dispersal and rapid colonization of habitats
78
Q

K-selected species characteristics

A
  • low reproductive rates
  • efficient resource utilization
  • high competitive ability
  • slow growth rates
  • fewer offspring
  • high parental investment
79
Q

K-selected species is associated with what environment?

A
  • Stable and predictable environments
  • mature and crowded ecosystems
  • resource limited environments with intense competition
  • maintaining a stable population size near the carrying capacity of their habitat

BIOL*2060 - Ecology (2 decks)

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